Make Me Remember
by remonrime
Summary: Gone are the days of putting on make up and gone are the days of childish intimacies with Mello, but Near can't seem to forget. What caused Mello to completely disregard their past "naughty times"? Near has to make him remember. Sequel to Make Me Pretty.


**Make Me Remember (Sequel to Make Me Pretty)  
**

**Pro-to-the-logue**

"You'll get caught one day."

I looked up through my bangs from my position on the floor, a single, white puzzle piece held within my fingers.

The common room was empty, save for myself, and the quietness seemed to dominate the atmosphere until I heard familiar voices coming from outside.

"You don't wanna' try?"

"Fuck no, dude, get it away!"

Usually, it's not within my nature to eavesdrop over things unbeneficial to me, let alone be curious. I took a deep breath and placed the white puzzle piece on the ground. I stared at the incomplete puzzle, my mind working away at the possible solutions to finishing it.

With a silent sigh, I got up from the ground and walked over towards a nearby window, rays of sunlight pouring in through the glass. I pressed myself against the window frame, my forehead pasted against the glass as I stared out into the outside world. I could see the rest of the Wammy children frolicking about amidst the summer sun, their faces expressing mirth and enjoyment.

With reluctance, I flickered my eyes to the left, where the outline of two lone figures caught my eye.

Mello and Matt were sitting side by side underneath the cool shade of a nearby tree. They were facing away from the other children, their shoulders touching as they quarreled about something they were trying to conceal. It was obvious that they were hiding something, what with the way Mello's eyes darted around. His body language exuded nothing but obscurity.

I continued to watch them, dissecting the way their lips moved and watching as a faint trail of white smoke seemed to float away from them. I became lost, my eyes trained on them and only them.

"Near!"

I turned away with a sigh. Linda was standing at the doorway to the common room, her hands behind her back. She was smiling, a faint blush painting her cheeks.

"Linda?" I called to her. Her smile widened even more at hearing her name.

"What are you doing, Near?" she asked with mild curiosity, her body rocking back and forth.

I stared down at my uncompleted puzzle piece and then at the window behind me. For a moment, I couldn't say anything, and it wasn't as if I would.

"Nothing in particular," I finally said, my voice low and barely audible. Linda continued to smile at me, however, her smile had lost it's initial warmth.

"Oh," she said, her mouth puckered into a tiny "o". "Well, that's nice I suppose. Near?" I continued to stare at her, masking my face with a perfectly trained expression of indifference. She squirmed under my scrutinizing stare.

"I was just wondering if you would like to play outside today," she said in one breath. "You never play outside, Near. Don't you want to?"

"Dude, you're disgusting. Now I smell like you."

I was saved from responding when Mello and Matt suddenly entered the common room. Mello had punched Matt on the side of his shoulder, which caused Matt to pout in pain. Matt never dared to go against Mello, no matter what the circumstance.

Linda stared at them as well, her face flushing in embarrassment. She always felt uncomfortable around Mello and it probably had to do with the fact that he always teased her.

"Oh, the marshmallow's here," Mello grimaced. He gave me a curt glare, his eyes beading into fiery orbs of blue. I turned my head away from him and shot another glance out the window. Why couldn't they have just stayed outside?

"Ah, and Mrs. Near is here to greet us as well!" Mello exclaimed, a smirk gracing itself upon his lips. He stared at Linda in amusement, relishing the way he unceremoniously teased her.

Linda blushed an even darker shade of red, her eyes glazing over.

"Be quiet, Mello!" she muttered, her hands coming up to twiddle with the hem of her shirt. "I'll see you later Near, okay? Bye!" And with that, she scampered off.

"Aww, you scared her off," Mello cooed. His smirk grew deeper and his eyes became more menacing. I instinctively backed away from him, my back hitting the window frame.

"Um, Mello, weren't we coming in here to, ya' know…uhhh," Matt mumbled on, his eyes indirectly pointing towards some unknown direction. Mello's eyes widened in remembrance, nodding at Matt in confirmation.

"That's right, the stash," he whispered. Mello then looked up through his corn colored bangs and shot me a ferocious glare. "If you ever tell Roger about my stash, I'll slit your throat while you're sleeping." He gave me a vicious smile, his head cocking to the side. I gulped at his gory threat and subtly nodded my head.

Mello then wandered over towards one of the far corners in the common room. He stopped at some particular spot, where he then slouched over and picked at a loose floorboard. He pried the floor board off and shot his hand inside, where he extracted a brown cardboard box. He gave the box to Matt and began at fixing the floor board. Once finished with that, he got up and turned around, his eyes focusing on mine in a scrutinizing manner.

"Out," he commanded. All I could do was obey him. Staring once more at my uncompleted puzzle, I scuffled by and made my way towards the door. As soon as I passed by Mello, he immediately shot his foot out. I plummeted to the ground and landed on my chest, my face a few good centimeters from crashing into the ground. Pain shot across my chest as I picked up my head.

"Hmph," Mello grunted. Shamefully, I got up from the ground and continued on, never once looking back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXD

In my room, I contemplated.

When I was younger, I used to imagine that we would be friends, that nothing and no one would tear us apart. Of course, I never voiced this to him, he wouldn't have understood.

The memories from long ago, they were pointless now, lost in the arms of a deadly fire. All of the things we did, despite them being taboo, were now deemed simply as a foolish child's memories (although this was not directly said by him).

As the years passed, the rift began to form until it turned into a deep and searing gap. We grew apart and isolated ourselves from each other. We now stood on opposite sides of the mask, but we did not pertain to a certain color. The line that divides us is now filled with malice and hate, a burning difference that not only set us straight, but apart.

I slouched over one knee, my fingers roaming over a spread of white puzzle pieces that I had littered about the floor. A rumbling irritation began to form in my throat and the sudden urge to cough became unbearable.

The cough came and went, much like time had. I stared down at the jumbled set of puzzle pieces, a fresh spray of red blood painted atop their white surfaces. I smiled as the tendrils of a memory latched onto my fleeting mind. I smiled in remembrance.

I wondered if Mello remembered.

**Prologues suck, but they're useful I suppose. Please review and wait for the next chapter!**


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